marchenmthprofandomcom-20200215-history
Doing Everything from the Carpet: Part One
"Damned it be... It's really hot..." Nekhas grumbled as he trudged through the warm, fine sand that he felt through his boots. Heck - the darned sand is IN my boots, he thought and he gazed at the sky, using his right hand to block the unrelenting rays of empyrean fireball in the high. Not a single cloud was in the air, the dome above was a deep ultramarine, and the sun... "Curse the damned sun..." Nekhas muttered as he dropped to a slouch and wearily pushed forward. And confound you, Nekhas of the past! I should have stayed behind the walls of Valeria and made up the the adventure to the Ruins instead, he thought. Nekhas had been trying to write the second volume to his travelogue series, The Bizzare Travels of Nekhas, during the past few months, but he found himself down with a writer's block after failing to write anything for his new book for two weeks. It was then he heard about the Ruins from the barkeep of the Dunes Cornerclub he frequented in Valeria. "Ye heard it haven't ye? The rumor's goin' about. They says the Vanguard dijen actually goes to fell the remnants of the Oculus... They says...." the Barkeep inched closer to Nekhas and fell to a whispering tone. Nekhas instinctively inched backwards a bit. "They says... there gots the treasures in the southeast... Maybe gots the powerful magics in there...! The Luxidis and the Oculus are going to gettit first too...!" Then there was a loud slam of the bar-table near where Nekhas sat. "A bunch of balderdash, that's what it is I daresay!" man suddenly exclaimed in a disgruntled tone in unison with another slam of the table. Nekhas and the barkeep turned their heads to the right. Seated one barstool away from Nekhas was an inebriated-looking, bespectacled man in scholarly robes. He gazed at the both of them in an angry and serious expression. The whole tavern suddenly sank into silence as everyone's attention was directed towards the scholar. "They're taunting us, I say! Taunting us! The godforsaken Queen and the godforsaken Vanguard feller! *glug* *glug* *glug*" the drunk scholar ranted as he took a long swig of ale and heavily slammed his cup on the table, causing some foamy ale to splatter around it. "They're trying to say that they're more willing to fund expeditions to find the mythical city in the hills, than our research! That is an insult I say! An' a disgrace! As if the last King's wiles were not foolish enough!" "A revolution I say! A revolution!!" the scholar suddenly stood up,kicked down his stool violently and pointed his index finger towards the ceiling. "We must rise up against this tyranny! And form new republic! The People's Republic of Valeria! Come, my brothers and sisters! Can you really take this lying down!? Can you watch our land being shamed by this barbarian monarchy yet again!? First the ridiculous War, THEN the Writ of Conscription, and NOW the FOOLISH campaign in the West! We've got to do something about this!!! We've got to stop this!! Is everyone with me!?" The ranting scholar raised his arms as he said this, awaiting the cheers of the tavern regulars. But only silence ensued as everyone struggled to drink in this sudden outburst. The scholar eventually sighed when no response came, repositioned his barstool and returned to his seat and went back drinking silently. Later that day, made curious by the rumor of the Ruins, Nekhas went to collect information about the strange place that seemed to have caught the attention of many explorers and researchers. Initially, he was daunted by the information that the Ruins was located inside the Southwestern Miral desert - but was then quickly convinced to believe that it was not that much of a dangerous expedition, for a seasoned explorer shared with him that there was an obsolete trade route (geographically free from the thermal underbanks of the sands) that led to a region near the Ruins - though one would have to rely on the Valerian Vanguard to pinpoint the exact location of the ruins. Eventually, Nekhas decided that actually travelling to the Ruins could probably help remove his writer's block, and this adventure would likely make the second volume of his travelogue series a bestseller... A warm wind blew in Nekhas' direction, buffeting his thick cloak. "Darned sand..." Nekhas cursed as he hurriedly blocked his eyes from the flying sand with his forearm. When the wind died down, relaxed his arm and saw a tall reddish rock in the distance. To his fortune, the rock had a pretty neat overhang which was enough to provide him some shade. Unable to wait for a respite from the terrible sun, he broke into a jog towards the tall rock. Stepping into the shade, Nekhas heaved a long sigh of exhaustion and leaned against the surface of the rock. He felt heat flow from the stone into his spine. That's still better than the sun though, Nekhas thought as he withdrew his waterskin from his belt and took a sip of the wondrously delicious water. As he took a break for the moment, he surveyed his surroundings. Sand, sand, sand, dune, dune, rock, rock... Nekhas thought to himself, making mental notes of what he saw. I already know what to write for the chapter 'Trial to the Desert Ruins'... "A sandy, and terribly hot place. Has nothing at all except for whole lot of sand, rocks, dunes, and sunlight. Occasionally has some clouds. Flora, zilch. Fauna, only foolish humans looking for treasure...", he thought and laughed to himself bitterly. Nekhas returned his waterskin to his belt and drew out his spyglass. Pressing the smaller end of the glass to his right eye, he more thoroughly surveyed his surroundings. More sand, more rocks... And some guy in a great helm riding a stallion, along with other riders. Nekhas balked for a moment before adjusting his glass to look more clearly at what he saw. A group of armored men were riding to Nekhas' left, some distance from where he stood. These soldiers were wearing the colours of the Valerian Vanguard. And the leader of this group was... Taking a few steps ahead, Nekhas closely examined the rider who wore a full set of plate armour whose long azure cape could be seen billowing in the wind created by the charging horse. "By the Gods, is that the Queen?" Nekhas muttered incredulously. "This is bullshit! How come she gets to wear plate armour under the scorching sun without getting heatstroke!?" "Hmm... the Edmund guy should be with her..." Nekhas spoke to himself as he briefly skimmed across the ranks of the advancing horsemen. There was no sign of the knight. And for that matter, he realised that the number of troops that were directly under the command of the Queen was considerably few in number. Did something happen to the rest of the Vanguard? Nekhas wondered. "Eh, I don't really care either way..." Nekhas shrugged as he directed his spyglass far to the left, towards the area where the regiment was heading. The Queen probably decided to lead a scouting party ahead to survey the battleground firsthand before the Mundus Oculus or the Luxidis had the chance to do it - that way they would be able to quickly gain the tactical advantage of knowing their surroundings. Nekhas twisted a knob on his spyglass and extended it, allowing him to look further. In the distance was a large silhouette - probably a cliff or valley. He guessed that probably was where the ruins was likely to be situated in. "Well... I guess I'll wait 'till they're done marching there..." Nekhas said as he retracted his spyglass and leaned back against the reddish rock. *** "Blimey, what an extravagant tent that is," Nekhas mused to himself as he looked down at the Valerian Queen's tent from above as he scaled a relatively steep incline that was hidden by some rocks that protruded from the reddish cliff face. The external area of the ruins was thankfully covered by the shadow created by the cliff and the past-midday sun. In fact, Nekhas was pleased and surprised to find out that the area was relatively cooler than the rest of the godforsaken desert. Now he felt more convinced that the ruins likely held treasure... It would be great indeed to find an artefact which would perpetually pulse gusts of air whenever its user willed it to, Nekhas thought. Heck, I might even go to central Miral if I had that kind of holy artefact, Nekhas mused to himself yet again. The small Valerian regiment stood in neat four by four rows and columns, before the Queen who stood in front of her tent in the middle of two of her Royal Guards. Nekhas guessed that the regiment was probably receiving orders from the Queen regarding their scouting and patrolling duties. Hmm... Maybe I can borrow one of her men... Nekhas pondered upon the idea for a few moments as he pulled himself up a particularly steep incline. In front of Nekhas was a diagonally slanting section of the Ruin's sandstone walls which seemed to have been hewed from the cliff itself. Walking closer to the wall, he realised that there was rather well shaded area under a steady overhang that formed some sort of alcove partly formed by some of the Ruin's walls and the opposite reddish cliff. Nekhas decided that this would be where he would stay. He stepped into the sufficiently large rock alcove, set down his haversack in a corner and drew out the large carpet roll tied to the bag. Nekhas used the carpet roll to sweep some of the sand that collected in the alcove to another corner and began to unroll it across the alcove floor. "Time to get everything set up..." he muttered to himself, wiping some beads of perspiration on his forehead with his sleeve. *** Nekhas leaned against the his alcove's wall as he poured out some water from the small enchanted teapot into his mug. He set the teapot back on top of a large cylindrical wedge of arcane stone and sipped some water. A night had passed since he set up his small base of operations in the alcove inside the cliff that leaned against a section of the ruins' walls. He had planted a sign in the sand somewhere near the cliff entrance to the alcove, hoping to catch the attention of one of the Valerian scouts so that he could have an assistant of some sort to help him gather information about the interior of the ruins. "Was the sign really that hard to read....?" Nekhas muttered as he took another quick sip of water. Perhaps it was, he thought. As a means to select a scout that was more likely to give assistance, he had written the message on the sign in a mutation of the Miralic language - something that looked similar to the inscriptions on the ruins' walls on his right. As a matter of fact, he deduced that the language of the ruins was likely held the parent ideographs of the Miralic script - for he realised that some inscriptions shared significant similarities with the latter. If any of the scouts could guess the relation between both of the languages, it would be very likely that that scout could be as inquisitive as Nekhas, which would allow him to leverage on that to get him to lend his aid. "I guess the Valerian soldiers are all brawn then... Ah well, I can always wait 'till they're done fighting inside..." Nekhas shrugged as he put down his mug and went back to the foldable table in front of him, on which was the manuscript for 'The Bizzare Travels of Nekhas: Volume Two'. Picking up his quill, he continued to make up things about the ruins and its surroundings and started to scribble things down on the yellowish parchment. "Hahah! That's a good one... That was when... I found out that Desert Shark liver extract... is a good coagulating agent... for hydrolysed ectoplasm..." Nekhas audibly read out what he had in mind as he scribble the same words down in a quick scrawl. "Excuse me, but, do you know if there any keystones up here?" the young voice of a man spoke from in front of Nekhas. In response, Nekhas waved his hand irritably as if he were trying to swat away a fly. "No keystones here. You just spoiled the moment for me!" "I see. Please, pardon me. I shall take my leave." Sounds of crunching sand could be heard amidst the sounds of Nekhas' quill scratching the face of his parchment. Crunching sand.... Nekhas paused and looked up from his parchment. He saw the moderately armoured back of a Valerian scout which gradually moved further and further away from his alcove. "Wait! Wait! You there!" Nekhas hurriedly shot up from his desk and ran towards the leaving scout. The scout turned about and gave a friendly smile to Nekhas. "Ah, hello sir. What may it be that you require of me?" "You are a Valerian scout aren't you?" Nekhas panted as he recovered from his sprint. "Indeed, sir. I am Private First-Class Smithers, of the Valerian Vanguard's Sword of the Queen - led by the Queen herself," the scout saluted Nekhas smartly. "You know... You shouldn't go around telling strangers everything... I could very well be the enemy for all you know! Didn't your mom teach you not to tell strangers about yourself?" Nekhas sighed. "Hmm... Now that you mention it, my ma did indeed tell me that when I was a kid..." "Also, don't salute me! I'm not your commander or anything like that! The enemy might get the wrong idea and put an arrow in my head!" Nekhas said exasperatedly. "Yes, sir," Private Smithers clicked his boots together and saluted Nekhas, who shook his head and massaged the bridge of his nose. I guess I'll have to make do with this guy... Nekhas thought as he beckoned the scout to follow him. "So, sir... Did you actually have the keystones?" Pvt. Smithers asked as he followed Nekhas to the alcove from behind. "No... But I know where they are," Nekhas said as he sat himself on the big carpet. "But I want to ask a favour of you before I tell you where exactly they might be inside the..." "The Thruweld Ruins, sir?" "Yeah, the Ruins of Thruweld. What say you?" Nekhas said, deliberately reversing the order of the words. "I think that's quite a fair bargain. I'll do it, as long as it doesn't involve assassinating the Queen or anything like that. Hah hah!" the Private joked and laughed to himself. This guy says some dangerous things sometimes... Nekhas realised. "Aren't you going to ask for anything in return? Like gold or something? You're doing extra work for some stranger you just met!" Nekhas asked the scout. Nekhas had no intention to provide any monetary rewards in actuality, but he a trick up his sleeve. "Gold? I don't need Gold. Its the duty of the Valerian Vanguard to protect and help the people of the Kingdom. Doing your duty for the nation doesn't require any more compensation more than your living expenses. That's what I believe," Smithers said as he held his fist to his heart, as though he were giving a passionate speech. Nekhas clicked his tongue - the trick up his sleeve just went further up into his shoulder. I guess I can only play this card... Nekhas thought. "Alright, forget the compensation thing. Just treat it like a gift okay? I wanted to give you a signed edition of my book - 'The Bizarre Travels of Nekhas: Volume 1' that is worth 100 quid for a limited time only - as a reward for helping me out, but if you're such a model soldier, you can just take it as an expression of my gratitude," Nekhas said bitterly. "You honor me, sir. I shall gladly accept the gift after I am done with my mission," the private bowed deeply. "Now, here's what I want you to do listen carefully. Write it down in your handbook if you have one. I'll give you a few sticks of charcoal and a bunch of parchment, and some string to tie them up. I want you to go to the places where the keystones are enshrined, I'll teach you their probable location later, and put a piece of parchment on the wall relief like this..." Nekhas said as he slapped a single slice of parchment against the relief wall to his right. Private Smithers nodded and jotted down a few notes while observing Nekhas. "Then, with a stick of charcoal," Nekhas said while showing the charcoal to Smithers. "You rub out the relief pattern by pressing the charcoal on the paper. Remember not to do it with too much strength. I don't want you to come back with a bunch of ripped paper. Get as many of these as you can and put them in this bag. These rubbings will give us very important clues about what lies within the Ruins of Thruweld." "I see! That is quite clever! You are very talented, sir! I am very honored to be allowed to work with you," the private remarked as he pocketed his journal. "Hah hah! You think so...? Urgh! This is no time for flattery! I'll explain to you what the clues this relief reveals about the Keystones that are essential for opening the three magically locked strongrooms of the ruins. Listen carefully!" *** After some time spent describing the features of where the Ruin Keystones were stored, Smithers got ready to leave the alcove. It was then that Nekhas remembered one more thing that he had to tell the private. "Hey, Smithers. One more thing." "Yes sir?" "Don't go telling the other Valerian fellers about me. I don't want people to start crowding around my place." "Understood sir. I shall return swiftly," the private nodded and began to head out of the alcove. But just before he did so, he turned about to look at Nekhas. "Sir, may I have the honor of knowing your name? I am sure that you are someone that I might want to remember for life." "My name? Well, you'd still get to know my name once you get my book, but anyhow... The name's Nekhas." "I see... Master Nekhas... Thank you for your assistance, sir." Nekhas briefly waved at the smiling private who finally turned away from him and headed down the cliff. *** Two days had passed since Nekhas last saw Private Smithers. In fact, he had been feeling quite restless regarding the matter (no, not out of concern for the scout, but for the relief rubbings that were waiting to be translated). Due to this anxiety, Nekhas, unable to concentrate on writing, decided to while away time by brewing random sunlight-catalysed potions and poisons in the noon, reading various other texts that awaited his perusal, and scribbling random ideas and drawings on slices of scrap paper. During his wait, he also found out that Sir Edmund rejoined the vanguard with reinforcements, and began his own foray into the ruins with a party of troops he selected while the others began to set up their encampents outside the ruins. The Mundus Oculus sect and the Luxidis might have, by now, infiltrated the Ruins by other entrances too. Three powerful and troublesome factions having a battle royale in the narrow corridors of the Thruweld Ruins... Sounds like a bloodbath to me, Nekhas thought. In fact, Nekhas had a feeling that the Valerian Vanguard would have a natural disadvantage while fighting with the other factions within the ruins. This was because the otherwise deadly calvary forces of the Valerian Vanguard would be forced to fight without their mounts - greatly reducing their effectiveness in combat, whereas the more amphibian and guerilla forces of the Mundus Oculus and the Luxidis might stand more of a chance given their inherent abilities of quickly adapting and exploiting the differences in terrain and the elemental properties of the battleground... If the Queen were to be incapacitated during a battle in the ruins - she would most probably not survive (and would also beat King Prassius' record for the shortest time of rule). Even the complete extermination of the Valerian Vanguard would not be an impossibility should the power of the ruins come under control of the Mundus Oculus Sect... Nekhas put down the book he was reading and lazily laid down on his side, holding up his head with his right hand. "Maybe I should get out of here while I can..." Nekhas muttered as he laid his back on the carpet and gazed at the stone ceiling. Resting his forearm on his eyes, Nekhas slowly fell asleep. Nekhas found himself in a large study which was littered with a multiplicity of experimental apparatus. In the middle of all these glasswork tools was a long desk on which mountains of parchment grew. A warm light could be seen emanating from behind the mountains of parchment. Nekhas realised that he was oddly short, for he had to look up before he could see the long condenser of a nearby calcinator which he walked past while heading towards the table. "Is that you, Nekhas?" a deep, warm voice came from behind the mountain of parchment. Nekhas did not reply, but knew that the man who spoke knew that he was in the room. He walked closer to the table and saw robed legs inch out from beneath the long wooden table. "It is late, but I presume you desire another nugget of wisdom. Very well, listen carefully..." Master Isqallunah spoke slowly. : "Only in the garden of dreams, can one be truly free from the shackles of fate..." The deep voice echoed infinitely in the halls of his mindscape. And then Nekhas realised that his eyes were closed. He opened his eyes. The sight of the alcove's ceiling greeted his vision. Nekhas realised that his hair was soaked in perspiration. Yawning, he sat up and pulled a towel he left to hang on a length of string and used it to wipe his hair dry. "Only in the garden of dreams, can one be truly free from the shackles of fate, huh..." Nekhas muttered dreamily. "Ah, Master Nekhas, I see that you are finally awake!" the cheerful voice of Smithers suddenly came from behind Nekhas, making him jump and turn about to stare at the private in surprise. "Ah... Err... Yes... I am awake," Nekhas stuttered as he scratched his head. After a few moments of silence, Nekhas continued. "The rubbings?" "Yes, the rubbings. Here they are, sir," private Smithers said as he placed a leather bag on the table and untied the string that was bound around its neck. Nekhas excitedly withdrew the contents of the bag and examined each piece of parchment briefly. "This is marvellous. Now, tell me what happened inside the ruins. Was the Vanguard intercepted by the Mundus Oculus, or the Luxidi? Did you guys manage to secure the Keystones?" "Indeed... We encountered the members of the two groups and suffered a number of casualties during the skirmishes, especially with the Mundus Oculus. It seems that Belial is personally leading his warriors this time round..." "The Keystones?" "Ah yes... We managed to procure one of the two Keystones that open the door to the Armory. These are the rubbings that I made of the wall reliefs where the the Keystone was found..." Private Smithers drew out from the stack of rubbings, three pieces of parchment as spoke. "And these are of those outside the Armory itself..." He continued and separated three more slices of parchment from the stack. "Interesting... So you guys found the entrance to this, Armory? Did you manage to open the door somehow?" "Actually, we did, with the help of Chief Vinctus of the Luxidi Exploration Expedition. He made a wager with Sir Edmund - about some challenge inside the Armory... To be honest, I don't have a good feeling about this wager. You know what they say: When a beastman makes a bet with you, something's fishy..." "Did you manage to see what was inside the Armory?" "I did not see it for myself, for the Sir Edmund and Chief Vinctus who bore the Keystones had already re-sealed the door when I arrived at the entrance to the Armory, but I did manage to hear from some of Sir Edmund's men about what was inside the chamber. They say that the room was devoid of any sort of weaponry, and had four marble statues of 'legionnaires' standing at the corners of the room. When one of the explorers of the Luxidi summoned a familiar to scout the room, the statues immediately became magically animated and did not stop attacking the familiar until it vanished. Both Sir Edmund and Chief Vinctus locked the Armory doors immediately after that." "I see... I'll examine these rubbings to see if I can provide any sort of aid to you... But besides that, did Queen Lirael's regiment manage to procure any Keystones? No wait... Before that, when will this challenge between Sir Edmund and Vinctus take place?" "I believe the wager is planned to be challenged at noon tomorrow," Smithers spoke in a more serious tone now which greatly constrasted his previous manner of speech. "Hmm... It seems that I might have to begin interpreting the rubbings immediately... But while your memory is still fresh, I would like to briefly hear about the other Keystones which the Vanguard might have obtained. You can, stay here for a little longer can you? I have a feeling that the interpretation of the Armory's reliefs might be quite important for what is going to happen tomorrow..." "I am able to wait here until you are done with your translations, sir. Now, about the other Keystones..." Nekhas listened carefully to Private Smithers' narration about the other Keystone which seemed to lead to the throne room of the Thruweld Ruins. The Queen's Regiment managed to obtain one of two of the Throne Room Keystones. While searching for the second Keystone, they found the great-doors that led to the throne room, but were ambushed by Belial's party at the large vestibule. The Regiment managed to fend off the attackers at the cost of a few lives, though it seemed that Belial had actually ordered his troops' retreat. When the regiment secured the throne room's antechamber, one of the scouts found the second Keystone in the hands of one of Belial's fallen lieutenants. So now, the Queen is in possession of both Keystones required to open the great-doors. But realising that it Belial probably wanted the Queen to enter the throne room, after which they could corner her and finish her off, the Queen ordered a retreat and returned to the ruin encampments. "Belial has probably already captured one of the treasures of the Thruweld Ruins - perhaps a quite a hefty cost..." Nekhas commented after reflecting on the details Private Smithers gave. "What do you mean?" "Don't you get it? By giving the Queen the other throne room's Keystone, he has already ruled out the idea of rushing into a chamber to obtain whatever treasure or power lies within the sealed throne room. The only reason why he would think this way is probably because he did that for one chamber and suffered heavy losses. Therefore, he planned to deliberately lure the Queen into the throne room, in order to make her to face the dangers within it. Then successively and quickly, he could sally forth his army to flank her from behind, effectively putting a full stop in the Queen's life." "I see... To think Belial had come up with such a deliberated plan... A truly terrifying demon lord... Thankfully, the Queen was able to make the proper judgement of withdrawing her forces." "Smithers, show me which are the rubbings for the throne room. The Queen of Valeria's life probably hangs on whatever ounce of information we can squeeze out from these inscriptions..." "Yes, sir," Smithers nodded as he drew out a number of paper rubbings from the stack and put them on a separate pile. Nekhas sighed as he stuffed the other unimportant rubbings into the leather bag and shifted the two stacks of rubbings closer to himself. One for the Armory, and the other for the Throne Room... On one stack of paper hangs the pride of Sir Edmund of Valeria... On the other... well... The life of Her Excellency... Nekhas sighed yet again as he pushed the stack regarding the throne room to the further side of the table and drew out a fresh stack of blank parchment. Well... Time to get to work I guess, Nekhas thought. "Master Nekhas," Private Smithers suddenly called out to him. "What? We haven't got much time left. I can't concentrate if you keep calling my name out every five seconds," Nekhas frowned at Smithers. "Oh, pardon me. I just wanted to say that the Kingdom is really fortunate to have had such a talented man serving Her... You have my respect, sir," Smithers said in a grateful tone and bowed deeply. "Hah hah! You think so?" Nekhas scratched his head bashfully and laughed. "Urgh! Now's not the time for this! You can save your gratefulness for later. Now go rest in a corner or something. Don't bother me." "Yessir." Turning back to his desk, Nekhas dipped his quill in his inkwell and rested the quill's tip on the parchment. Black in sank into the yellow paper. Then his quill began scratching away. *** "Oy, wake up, Smithers!" Nekhas violently shook the peacefully napping private by his shoulder. After a number of violent shakes, the private yawned and rose from his rest. "Good morning, sir," the scout said sleepily as he stretched his back and arms slowly. "Hurry... There is not much time left. I am done with my notes on the armory, and have come up with a plan for the Edmund feller. Listen up!" "Yes sir!" private Smithers forced his eyes wide open and quickly stood up. "I've written down my instructions on this piece of parchment, but I want you to hear the plan too. This is very important. If things are not done in time, you can say hello to the People's Republic of Valeria when you return home with a dead Queen." "People's Republic of what?" "Listen up: take this scroll and let Sir Edmund read it. Make sure he reads it in full! Tell him the Queen wanted him to read it or something. It contains my analysis of the armory's challenge of the Thruweld Ruins. After you're done with that take this forged letter I made using Duke Zoah's handwriting. This will give him ideas about the plan. We don't want to make it seem as if we're forcing him on it. It is extremely essential that you have him make the connections by himself." Nekhas took a deep breath. That was a mouthful. Smithers nodded rapidly in response. "Now, before I tell you the next part, I will have to ask if you know who Oswald the Merchant is. If you don't I might of to carry out this part of the plan myself." "Oswald... Oswald... Ah, was it the shady Miralic merchant who got all his enchanted armor confiscated by Sir Edmund a few months back?" "Yes... So you know him. Perfect. Now we can leverage on his relation with Sir Edmund to carry out the plan. I am quite sure that merchant is around this area somewhere. Do you know what he looks like?" "Hmm... I believe I saw him being arrested and escorted to the capital's dungeons back when I was still a recruit... I may have gotten one or two more glimpses of the man after he was released. He is of the same race as you - is that correct, Master Nekhas?" Nekhas nodded irritably and continued speaking. "Alright that's sufficient. I'll need you to disguise yourself in a robe or something that doesn't have the Vanguard's colours and look for a weird looking tent which is likely to be sitting some distance from the ruin encampment. That's probably his shop 'Oswald's Emporium'. Take this large sack of books written by m- err, my business associate and place it near the entrance on the inside of his shop, then go up to him and show him this book that is separated from the rest of the similar looking books in the sack," Nekhas said as he held up a neat-looking blue hardcover book which bore the words 'Informal Notes on Personalities of Alcestia by Elgaron Needham'. "Introduce yourself as a travelling agent of Master Needham, and tell him that you're here to request putting up some books for sale in his shop for a reasonable fee. But before you show him the goods, show him this forged letter of Sir Edmund's handwriting and say that Sir Edmund asked you to give you this note. There's a chance that Sir Edmund might actually write a real letter to Oswald too after you show him my notes. He if does that, give the real letter instead. If everything goes according to plan, he will toss the letter one side carelessly. The moment he does that, I will, dressed as a soldier of the Valerian Vanguard, barge into the emporium and read aloud a bookmarked section of one of the sack of books placed at the entrance. When I do this, he might hurriedly request you to bring the books to his Galleria, a secret section of his shop, and invite me to come along. That's when I will attempt to blackmail Oswald in order to try to get him to lend us one of his magical artefacts that might aid Sir Edmund in succeeding the challenge of the Alathorn Armory." "I see... A very thorough plan, this is. I never knew that Oswald the Merchant was actually in possession of such powerful artefacts..." "I believe his Galleria might contain The Shield of Ajax, or The Shield of Evalach, or Ancile, or maybe The Leviathan's Hide, perhaps even The Kavacha or the Hide of Fulad-zereh... Just one of these artefacts is enough to guarantee that Sir Edmund obtains The Shield of a Kingdom. Here, take this bag. I've put all the required documents in it. After you're done with Sir Edmund, return to the alcove, and we'll head to Oswald's Emporium together with these books." "Understood, sir," Smithers nodded firmly and slung the bag around his back. Bloody hell... This is going to be a long day... Nekhas thought. Category: Kingdom of Valeria